Client feedback

“I wanted to look at the effectiveness of our trustee board, so Gillian, our PSGS scheme secretary, provided their trustee self-assessment tool to help me gather thoughts and opinions from others on the board. The tool was extremely easy to use and asked all the right questions to help me collect the information I needed as Trustee Chair. It is a great example of the way PSGS shares knowledge with their clients and makes dealing with key governance issues easy. As well as enabling me to meet one of the Regulator’s 21st century trusteeship requirements, using the tool has flagged trustee training needs and ways we could improve trustee meetings further. ”

Claire Silvester,

Vector Aerospace

“Expertise - independent - takes the strain off.”

Kelly White,

Tussauds

“Always willing to get involved and move things forward.”

Steve Sampson ,

LGC

“Keen to assist and helpful.”

“Alex has helped in our dealings with other advisers using his experience of other schemes.”

Angela Clayton ,

Accent Group

“They are very proactive and full of new ideas, they've brought better scheduling and better minute sets.”

Paul Rudd,

Express Newspapers

BCP performance during the pandemic

Topic:

PSGS news

Date published:

Monday, 21 September 2020

Laptops had been rolled out to all employees in 2019 to replace older, desk-bound PCs. Many of our team already regularly worked from home but, a few days before the lockdown was announced by the Prime Minister, all staff were instructed to take laptops home to test they were working correctly.

The decision to introduce 100% mobile computing was partly based on the belief that if our staff had the ability to work from anywhere, they would become even more flexible and productive. It was also based on business logic: with an ever-expanding number of small offices across Punter Southall, it was cheaper and easier to have equipment that could be moved around easily and supported remotely. With security built into the design, staff and clients are assured information remains secure.

As well as the new laptops, during 2019 we also installed commercial-grade Wi-Fi networks at each office. This meant when staff took their laptops home in March, they were able to connect to their home broadband and securely access and use our systems exactly as they were used to doing in the office. This decision to move to mobile working proved invaluable, enabling our business to continue at normal operations during the forced transition from office to home working due to the COVID-19 crisis.

Extra IT equipment, such as additional monitors and headsets, were quickly supplied to staff at home and, as we had already outsourced engineering, fully configured laptops could be delivered directly to an individual’s home address where a replacement was required or a new team member had joined. A COVID-secure induction process was designed and successfully implemented.

The Microsoft Teams platform had been introduced as part of the transition to Office 365 when the new laptops were rolled out in 2019. We extended the functionality available within Teams to enable external video conferencing on this platform in addition to Skype for Business, giving us multiple options to continue with secure client meetings. Training was given to all staff with one-to-one support available if needed.

As a business, we pride ourselves on the way we share ideas and experience across the PSGS team and this has not stopped during the pandemic crisis. We use Teams to share information and ideas via our internal ‘hub’ and meet regularly as a business via video conference.

The PSGS Management Board continue to monitor the situation and have plans in place that flex as needed in these ever-changing circumstances to ensure our staff and clients remain protected.

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